Where is she?
by Franbunanza
Summary: Eloise Hawkins delivers confirmation of every mothers worst fear to Jeanette Staples Lewis. Charladay sequel/alternate point of view of sorts to my fics "Soon Enough" "The Other Side", can be read as a stand alone but it is less angsty with the other 2


Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff.

a/n: all of the poor blighters on the frieghter have died, (except Frank and Miles....yet anyway) so i just wondered what the families must be thinking, specifically Charlotte's. So I wrote this fic.

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It wasn't exactly what Eloise had expected, she thought as stood outside the understated attached house in the middle of a eerily quiet street.

She glanced over to a collection of garages where a group of children were watching her. One seated on his bike, another tossing a football from hand to hand and the third shamelessly spraying tags on to one of the garage doors.

Growing up around here would explain a few things about the person she was here to discuss.

What she had expected was a large house, in a upper class area. Eloise had assumed that the Staples-Lewis' would have been wealthy. After all she herself knew that it wasn't exactly cheap to put a child through an Oxford education.

Something caught her attention, just a quick glimpse of a poster buried under adverts for a circus that was in town and a number of get "rich while working at home" scam flyers. Eloise peeled these layers back until she could see the poster in its entirety. Missing, it read. Beneath the large letters designed to attract attention was a picture of Charlotte. She was dressed formally, with not a hair out of place, smiling proudly whilst holding an award. It was the same photo she had found in Daniel's pocket after she had shot him. Charles also had this very photo inside a file he had compiled about her before inviting her to join the expedition to the island. It was this file that Eloise had used to find the house of Jeanette Staples Lewis. She didn't really need to see a picture to remember what the girl had looked like. It was strangely and permanently burnt into her minds eye. They had only briefly encountered one another in the 50's but Eloise could still vividly recall the soft red hair and the icy blue eyes that seemed to melt and warm whenever they fell upon Daniel.

She looked back at the missing poster and gave a sigh. The colours were faded now and the paper was tattered and torn in places, it must have hung on the wall unanswered and neglected for years. Eloise thought It was a testament to Jeanette that it still remained, all be it buried under layers of meaningless junk.

She could no longer postpone her next move, it was time to tell Jeanette the truth of her daughters whereabouts. The once powerful and influential woman opened the small metal gate and made her way down the stone path. Weed's grew up through the slabs and she noted the abandoned old bicycle left leaning against the wall, it gave the impression that nobody seemed to bothered about keeping up appearances anymore. Pressing the doorbell, she stepped back and waited to be greeted.

"Yes, can I help you? If you're here to peddle religious nonsense then I'll thank you to leave." Jeanette stood in the doorway and looked Eloise up and down.

"My name is Eloise Hawkins, may I please come in?" she replied as she too sized the other woman up.

Jeanette kept her stony gaze fixed with Eloise's, she would have to give a reason.

"Please, The matter of which I need to discuss with you is rather important and I think it would be best to deal with it in private."

Jeanette rolled her eyes as if it were absurd that this peculiar visitor should know what would be best for her.

"It concerns your eldest daughter, Charlotte." Eloise persisted.

Jeanette's reserve dropped, she stepped aside and ushered the visitor into the hallway.

"Can I get you anything to drink, Eloise was it?"

Eloise gave a nod, "Tea please, milk and no sugar."

Jeanette directed her into the living room and excused herself to the kitchen. Eloise had specifically requested the beverage as to give Jeanette time to prepare herself for the news she was sure she knew she had to give.

The living room was tidy and made up for the appearance of the exterior of the house. There were photographs in matching frames dotted here and there. As Eloise inspected them she learnt that Charlotte's two sisters were brunette's with their mothers hazel eyes, and that the father had dark features as well. He only appeared in one of displayed the pictures with the girls, another picture of Jeanette and David's wedding day had been turned down.

Eloise noted that Charlotte had gotten her hair from her mother, but her eyes remained a mystery. She resolved that she must have inherited them from her biological father. Charlotte's biological father had been forced to remain on the Island and, unbeknownst to Eloise at the time, had died during Benjamin Linus' purge of the Dharma Initiative.

The few pictures of Charlotte gave Eloise more of an insight to the enigmatic red head her son had loved so dearly. As a child it seemed she didn't smile often and looked as if she were struggling to conceal a troubled mind. The air of loneliness that was implied by the fact that Charlotte seemed to be standing a little way away from the rest of the family in the photographs chilled Eloise slightly.

In a way it reminded her of her own withdrawn and lonely son. The parallels between the two of them had surprised Eloise. They had both attended Oxford, both brilliant minds, they shared the same strange humour and although there reasons had been different they both boarded that doomed vessel which had lead them to their wicked demises. Eloise contemplated the twisted nature of destiny, it was clear that they were fated to meet so that they could make each other whole at last, but it was the same fickle fate had torn them so maliciously asunder.

She had been almost relieved when she had learnt that Charlotte was dead, for at least then she would not have been responsible for ripping them apart. No, the island had seen to that three years ago.

Jeanette had rejoined her, she sat down on the sofa and gestured for Eloise to do the same.

Eloise picked up her tea, blew it to cool the liquid and took a sip. "Will your husband be joining us?"

"Ex-Husband, no, Things became difficult between us when I couldn't answer his questions." Jeanette kept her eyes locked on the coffee table.

"Questions about your life prior to meeting him and the Island I presume?"

If Jeanette was surprised by this statement she concealed it well, "He understood for a while, but when Charlotte disappeared he couldn't take not knowing. He loved her and raised her as his own." she continued, regret and sadness hidden behind her eyes.

The two mothers sat in silence for a moment or two.

"Where is she?" Jeanette asked, tears now brimming.

Eloise bent down and lifted her handbag up on to her lap, from it she removed a video tape. "I have here the last recorded footage of your daughter. Would you like to watch it now or would you rather in your own time?"

Jeanette got to her feet, "Now, I have waited so long for news. I think I have an old video cassette player in the cupboard, bare with me." she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and set about rummaging through the cupboard out in the hall. She return with the afore mentioned item and plugged it in to the television. Eloise handed her the tape, Jeanette put it in, picked up the remote and joined Eloise back on the sofa.

The ex Dharma and the ex hostile watched the tape together, united by the people who would be starring in it.

"The Tempest, I remember, used for toxic gas experiments." Jeanette's gaze was transfixed, it had been so long since she had seen a Dharma logo.

"This footage was taken from the surveillance camera from the Tempest, it was recorded three years ago." Eloise explained, a silence fell between them as a person came into the shot.

_The man in the video stood in front of the control panel and shifted awkwardly, he looked back over his shoulder as a second person joined him._

"_These suits are quite the fashion statement, don't you agree? Perhaps we should wear them all the time and start a trend." _

Eloise glanced sideways and observed Jeanette taking a deep breath, she mouthed "Charlotte" to herself, her fears that her daughter had returned to the island finally confirmed without a shadow of doubt.

"_I think they'd be difficult to keep clean, white isn't very practical for Island living." the man responded with a thin smile._

_Charlotte laughed loudly, "Oh right, coming from the guy who thinks a shirt and tie is the epitome of adventure wear?" _

_The man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and gave a dry laugh, "Point taken." _

"Who…who is that?" Jeanette interrupted.

"Daniel Faraday, my son." Eloise did not meet the other woman's eyes but was aware of an air of understanding forming between the two of them.

Jeanette turned back to the television.

_Charlotte opened a bag and handed Daniel a gas mask. Daniel swallowed nervously and fidgeted with the mask in his hands._

"_Come on now, don't be nervous, I know you can do it." Charlotte placed a hand on his shoulder. _

Jeanette smiled, "How unlike my daughter. She was never one for patience, he must have meant a lot to her."

Eloise gave a slight nod, she had suspected that Charlotte's treatment of Daniel had been different to the way she acted around everyone else.

"_Charlotte, um, Its just…I was wondering, maybe, only If you wanted to…we could get dinner when we get out of here?" Daniel stuttered awkwardly._

"_Sure, what like mango's on the beach?" she responded, hiding any hint of surprise from the question. Her eagerness was not so well concealed, however hard she might have tried to sound nonchalont._

"_I kind of meant when we uh…get off of the island." he explained._

"_That would be nice too, your country or mine?" Charlotte leant against a metal table._

_Daniel laughed, "Heh, with our pay checks? Anywhere, Paris? Venice? Shanghai? It would be nice to start living again, you know?" _

_Charlotte grinned wildly._

Jeanette thought of her daughters love for travelling and how this idea would be exactly the type of date she would have loved. It also explained the large sum of money that had been deposited into her daughters account courtesy of Widmore Industries.

"_That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm betting these last few years haven't been much fun for you…" Charlotte turned back to the bag and took out a second gas mask. _

_Daniel nodded but shrugged it off._

"Daniel was involved in an accident, he was a physicist and one of his experiments did substantial damage to his memory." Eloise explained, she remembered the quivering wreck he had become before she insisted on him going to the island. She knew that the Island had been predominantly responsible for fixing his mind but that it was Charlotte who had fixed his heart.

"_Dan, It might be a while before we can leave the Island. We've got a lot of work to do after all." Charlotte turned away and busied herself with the bag, her face was now turned directly towards the camera. _

"_Right, right, so um… mango's on the beach ok until then?" he asked._

_Charlotte smiled warmly, a smile that her mother was sure she had never seen before, and replied. "Yeah, as long as we don't get executed by angry oceanic survivors before then." _

_She turned back to him and they exchanged smiles before pulling on their gas masks_.

"What are they doing?" Jeanette questioned.

"Trying to neutralize the gas, to render it inert so it couldn't be used by a man named Benjamin Linus." Eloise considered telling Jeanette about the purge but resigned that she was going to have enough difficult news to ingest as it was.

"_Shhh Someone is coming!" Charlotte exclaimed in a hushed whisper. _

_Daniel jerked round in fright._

"_Don't worry, keep working I'll take care of it." Charlotte snuck out of sight. _

_A blonde woman appeared on the scene, pointing a gun at Daniel. _

Jeanette's stomach dropped and she watched paralyzed with fear as the blonde and her daughter fought. Charlotte was strong and could hold her own but they were fighting equally as brutally, the blonde smashed Jeanette's little girl's head against the hard floor and tore off her mask.

It was horrible, she was utterly helpless to protect her child. She thought back to the moment she had lifted her daughter out of the van before boarding the sub, it was all so she could keep her safe. Every time she had told Charlotte that the island wasn't real had been for her own protection. She had failed her.

_The fighting stopped as Daniel, poor Daniel who had been battling the stress of the gas pressure rising while his friend received a beating behind him, succeeded with his mission._

_A collective sigh of relief came from the three of them. _

_The Blonde strode out of sight. Daniel lifted Charlotte to her feet, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a congratulationary embrace, they laughed out in relief. He clung on to her tight with one arm around her waist and the other on the back of her neck._

"_See, I told you you could do it. One thing you'll learn is that I'm nearly always right." Charlotte stated._

_Daniel sighed and laughed, "That…well that was terrifying." he was still short of breath. _

_They pulled back from each other slightly and took in one another's expressions. Their eyes locked and the smiles turned to serious expressions. The adrenaline and obvious mutual attraction drew them back towards each other and into a kiss. Daniel grasped the back of Charlotte's suit and pulled her closer. Their lips parted as the kiss intensified and as Charlotte ran her hands through his hair._

Eloise and Jeanette awkwardly glanced away.

_A sound from out of the camera's view distracted them and they broke away quickly, stepping back and straightening out their suits. The blonde had returned a few seconds later and instructed them out of the Tempest. _

_They exchanged almost shy looks and did as instructed, leaving the Tempest abandoned and empty. _

Eloise took the remote and pressed stop.

"Daniel and Charlotte…both died on the island." she finally broke the heavy silence.

Jeanette covered her face with her hands and sobbed. "How, why?"

"Charlotte suffered a brain aneurism as a result of temporal disruption, she died in Daniel's arms. He loved her, so very much, and she knew." Eloise took a packet of tissues from her bag and handed them to the grieving woman, "That's why I needed to show you the tape, so that you could see for yourself."

"What about your son?" Jeanette sniffed.

"He never gave up, he was adamant that he could change things and save her. But in the end, Daniel was shot dead. It was mistake and the person who pulled the trigger lives with the regret every single day." Eloise couldn't admit the whole truth, it still tortured her and it always would.

Jeanette was lost to her grief, "Now I know for certain."

"I find strength in the belief that my son was the happiest I think he ever was when they were together." Eloise gave a slight flicker of a smile.

Jeanette looked up and she too manage a tiny smile, "Charlotte looked as I have never seen her before, I think....I think she was in love."

The two women who would have once been sworn enemies sat together and spoke about how, in time, they would organise a memorial service to honour the children they had lost. So that they could finally lay to rest the dreams that they had for them.

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A/N: Reviews are always really appreciated X


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